Ford KA

Ford KA, a great (and fun) first car

2005 (55)

I have owned 2 Ford KAs, having shared my first with my brother to learn to drive in. If you are looking for a car that is cheap to insure, run and maintain, and is fun to drive, there's no better car.

People often have misconceptions about the KA, but there are some great deals out there, and the fact production began in 96 and ran til 08 shows how easy parts etc are to access. Also, it was produced before maintaining cars was put second to safety, so changing a light bulb is mega-simple.

I love driving the car, it is nippy around town. But if you want a good engine with sufficient power, choose one after 2005 with the Duratec engine, rather than the outdated Endura-E which struggles to pull up to dual carriageway speeds. However, the Duratec engine is much better and I recommend buying one of this age.
Whilst interior comforts are sometimes a little scarce in the KA, plenty of aftermarket CD/MP3 players are available for relatively little cost and can be fitted incredibly easy. Don't let a tape player put you off, there are solutions around using one!

Interior comfort is pretty good, with good seating and legroom. However, performance can be affected, especially on an incline, of having 4 passengers and luggage, so this is probably best as a runabout car as opposed to a long trip car!


Mr James Smee